A small study showed that people with #LongCOVID do not have reactivated Epstein-Barr virus in their blood. Dr. Griffin wants to reframe this, since some of his long COVID patients do have reactivated EBV, but some do not. It’s certainly true it’s not causative, but it also highlights the fact that a blood test for long COVID is still a ways off.
#TWiVTLDR 8/
Taking 100mg of fluvoxamine 2x a day (an SSRI mostly used for OCD treatment) does not help people recover faster from mild to moderate #COVID. Apparently a bunch of people really thought this would work, because it was a thing that people told each other to take for COVID recovery. Sorry, it doesn’t work!
#TWiVTLDR 6/
The middling results of using COVID convalescent plasma (given to #immunocompromised ppl who can’t take anything else) may be down to timing - if you give it late, it doesn’t have much of an effect. Also, the vast majority given plasma were also on steroid drugs at the time, which may have affected the plasma’s impact. (You take steroids to reduce inflammation from hyperactive immune response.) It emphasizes the importance of giving #COVID convalescent plasma in first week.
#TWiVTLDR 5/
…Both Drs. Griffin and Racaniello point out how “odd” this is, and question how you’re going to measure “rebound” if nobody goes to zero to rebound from? The study did find that people who took #Paxlovid have fewer symptoms and lower viral load than untreated, so it should still help with transmission. And observe that symptom rebound is a separate thing from viral rebound. So Paxlovid should really be prescribed for everyone with #COVID who is high risk.
#TWiVTLDR 4/
And another Paxlovid “rebound” study, comparing #COVID patients of similar health histories that were treated or untreated with #Paxlovid. To start, they really broaden the definition of “rebound” so that 20% of the untreated group would qualify as having “rebound.” Many people in both treated and untreated groups still report having at least 1 COVID symptom even after day 15 (70%). Also, only about 20% of people in both groups were testing negative on PCR tests by day 10…
#TWiVTLDR 3/
A VA study found that people taking immunosuppressive drugs (so, #immunocompromised) for organ transplants, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), or psoriasis are still somewhat likely develop severe COVID-19 even if they’ve been vaccinated. 22.7% of organ transplant recipients are likely to get severe #COVID, 12.8% of rheumatoid arthritis patients, 6.9% of IBD patients, and 7.3% of psoriasis patients. And Paxlovid helped a lot.
#TWiVTLDR 2/
Still catching up. 😅 This Week in Virology for November 22, 2023: https://www.microbe.tv/twiv/twiv-1064/
The CDC released 70K+ more doses of the #RSV vaccines for babies. Get those shots! 💉
The anti-vaccine movement is starting to show in measles cases. Increase of 18% in cases and 43% increase in deaths worldwide from 2021 to 2022. Most of the #measles deaths are in young kids. 😔
#TWiVTLDR 1/
The hosts also discuss how some doctors avoid prescribing Paxlovid for nonsensical reasons, like #rebound symptoms being worse than nontreated COVID (they aren’t) and preventing transmission during rebound (uhh, #Paxlovid is an antiviral and should help with that...??). There also aren’t any indications that anyone taking Paxlovid has ever transmitted COVID onwards.
#TWiVTLDR 7/7
…They walk through the figures of this "rigged” #COVID #rebound paper anyway, and discuss how RNA copy number is not correlated 1:1 with infectivity due to the scale of the measurements used. (And you cannot tell how infectious you are on how dark your positive antigen test is either!) They acknowledge that even though symptoms can return and some jump in viral detection based on current test protocols, nobody who experienced a #Paxlovid “rebound” needed to go to the hospital.
#TWiVTLDR 5/
More observational studies about #Paxlovid rebound! Dr. Griffin notes the “controversial” paper redefined what “#rebound” is - not just return of symptoms, but checking people 3x a week with PCR tests, for any sort of detectable viral particles, or a 4x increase of viral particles even if it never goes to zero. Both Dr. Racaniello and Dr. Griffin “cry foul” for this new definition of rebound - “the game is rigged….”
#TWiVTLDR 4/
Babies younger than 6 months are protected somewhat from #COVID infection when their birth parents are vaccinated during #pregnancy. There’s no difference when the birth parent is vaccinated before pregnancy - it’s best to get a booster during the third trimester.
#TWiVTLDR 3/
Dr. Griffin notes that people are assuming endemic #COVID would have similar seasonalities to flu...and not other coronaviruses. 😅 Scientists have modeled it and have come up with a really interesting prediction of where COVID will peak in the future around the world: https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/mbio.01426-23#F3 (😅 on Amsterdam always being at a moderate risk with no peak or lull...)
#TWiVTLDR 2/
Still catching up, but now knitting so maybe I’ll catch up faster…. #TWiVTLDR for November 17: https://www.microbe.tv/twiv/twiv-1062/
More kindergarteners are being exempted from “required” #vaccinations for various things nowadays, including DTap and #polio. The percentage of exempted children is more than 5% in 10 states. (https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/wr/mm7245a2.htm#F2_down) Most exemptions were “philosophical.” 😅
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People with mild #COVID who lose their sense of taste and #smell generally all get it back within 3 years. Note that this was a 3-year study in total, so it was looking at where everybody was at the end. You also have to pay to read the article (boo) and the hosts didn’t discuss any timeline data, if it was even available to begin with.
#TWiVTLDR 9/
#COVID convalescent plasma (for #immunocompromised people who can’t take anything else) given to ventilated patients had the greatest effect if given within 48 hours. Waiting to see how people do is not useful.
#TWiVTLDR 8/
